Shines
by Neonai
Summary: Darth Revan and Darth Malak face the abyss in the heart of the Trayus Academy
1. NIHILUS

Author's note:  
Disclaimer: I own nothing and I'm not planning on making any money out of this.  
It's my first fic, written for the "How Malak lost his jaw" challenge on Trillian's forums. So, thanks Trillian! I had this idea in my head for some time, but if it wasn't for the challenge I doubt I would have ever actually written it. 

There are surely quite a few grammatical errors, due to lack of proofreading and English being my second language.

Also, this is a standalone. It has been written simply to explore this confrontation with Nihilus. It leaves a lot of things unexplained, like how Revan and Malak fell or what the implications of this confrontation may be. Maybe I will get around to write a longer story about the Mandalorian Wars, Malachor V and the fall of Revan and Malak, but that will depend on a few things, including Reviews!  
So please Review! I prefer reviews that trash the story in a constructive way. Sort of.

Here goes:

It was dragging at they're very essence. The dark figure in front them registered through the Force, but his…its….signature was unlike anything any of the two exiled Jedi's had ever seen. And they had seen many things. It was tall, as tall as Darth Malak himself, clad in obsidian black robes with a face covered in a red and white mask that revealed only his eye sockets, for the two had no idea if it actually had eyes. It stood there motionless, only its cape, its long black cape, flowing frantically in all directions with the howling and erratic wind in the caverns of Malachor V. If it had ever been human was a moot point, as it was nothing of the sort now.

It felt just like silence. If listening to the Force was listening to the Galaxy sing around you, then looking at the black-clad figure was like becoming deaf all of a sudden – all the tunes and acoustic harmonies suddenly vanishing, leaving only a heavy silence. It felt empty – but an emptiness that tugged at you, a bottomless abyss, not the serene darkness of space, but a never-ending depth of darkness that griped to the very Force within them. The two former Jedi had both, at some point or another, spent hours on end gazing into the darkness of space from the deck of a ship, but now… staring into the two pool of darkness that were his eye-sockets, it was as if they were staring into the depth of a black hole, and they were parsecs past the black hole's horizon – the point of no return.

It felt … hungry - and this hunger was stirred by their powerful Force presences.

The Mandalorian Wars had ended for almost a year now. A year since the Mass Shadow Generator brought about its end. Revan referred to that event simply as "The Silence". Much had happened during that year, though the complete story of what happened would only ever be known by two people, the two people that now referred to themselves as the Dark Lord of the Sith and First Apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith, otherwise known as Darth Revan and Darth Malak. Their fleet was en route to Foerost, but they had been compelled to visit Malachor V along the way, to take advantage of the Trayus Academy and its powers. Or maybe that was how they had explained it to themselves – there really was little rational reason for both the supreme commanders to go on such an expedition just as their new fleet was preparing for its first, crucial, strike. Without completely understanding what had lured them here they made their way to an encounter in the Trayus Core

"Who are you?" Revan asked, determination obvious in his voice.  
The dark figure said something in a guttural language neither of them understood, and then raised a hand towards them. "_I am your end! You exist only to feed me and make me stronger! When you will have fulfilled that purpose you will die and for the Force it will be as if you never existed. "_ The voice boomed directly in their head, no words spoken from the creature in front of them. _"I am Nihilus! I am Hunger! I am the Silence "_

And I am Darth Revan, Dark Lord of"  
"_SILENCE_!" The voice boomed in their head, making both former Jedi drop their knees, and cringe in pain. They could already feel themselves weakened; they could feel their brightness in the force slowly drifting towards the emptiness that was Nihilus. "I know who you are! I was here when General Kenali brought this whole world down upon itself! I embraced the pain, the death, the desperation of those being crushed by the hand of gravity and, finally, I embraced the silence! That was what allowed me to reach my full potential in the dark side!

_...Die..._

And with that it started. Pain! Pain the likes of which they had never experienced before. They felt the Force leaving them – no – being torn from them. Nihilus was absorbing their very essence, their Force Auras drifting towards him even faster. Malak had been close to dying before, but it felt nothing like this. Revan had saved him, he had latched on to him and dragged him back just as he was becoming one with the Force, but this was nothing like it. If this went on Malak felt like there would be no Force for him to become one with. He felt like he was dragged towards a pit of darkness, but there was no blue light of the Force at the far end of the pit. "But, there is no death!" Malak whispered mostly to himself. "There is only the Force!" Or maybe this is what it means to die in dark side; maybe this is what oblivion feels like. Without Malak knowing it, Revan was mirroring these exact same thoughts – before Nihilus' attack became so formidable that it required all of Revan's concentration.

They were strong in the Force, Revan and Malak, but if Nihilus were cynical, he would have summed up their brightness in the Force in one word: appetizing. For now, their strength was leading to their undoing, as whatever strength they could gather to themselves, it only made Nihilus stronger by feeding of it. If Nihilus had a face capable of a smile, he would have smiled. Revan had been called "The Heart of the Force", but Nihilus knew what his attack would leave behind: an empty carcass of flesh, devoid of any trace of the Force.


	2. Malak

_Sure are you Kavar? Exceptional willpower your padawan indeed has, but even for him this too much might be, and harsh your methods are. _

_Yes master Vandar, I have given this much thought. Malak is the finest duelist of the academy, and he has a knack for finding ways around everything, he is too much of a scoundrel._

_Indeed, and making his test a test of knowledge a wise decision it might yet be. But Master Vrook? Harsh it is, harsh it is even for Malak his test to take out of Vrook's lecture. _

_Master Vandar!_

_Intended no disrespect I did Vrook! But know you when the last time was that your students in class fall asleep have not? One as brash as Malak abandon your lectures soon enough will._

_Master Vrook, Master Vandar. I have confidence in my padawan. He will not give up anything. He is much too stubborn to call anything quits. Even Master Vrook's lectures._

"Ironic", Malak thought to himself. Ironic that he should die with Vrook on his mind, but he thought that for The First Apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith it was fitting that he should die remembering the one person that had given him so many lectures on the Dark Side. He was smiling, remembering how upset the masters were when they caught him spying on their conversation. Faced with death he held them no more grudge, even though the Jedi Council was one of the reasons they now had an entire galactic fleet about to attack the same Republic for which they would have one given their lives and the lives of anyone around them. His strength waning and pain flooding him, Malak was smiling remembering his days on Dantooine with Revan, causing all sorts of trouble for the Masters even though they were long past the age when mischief was tolerated. He was content to die with an image of himself and Revan as youngsters on his mind.

Revan! Malak snapped out of his reverie and darted a look towards where his friend and master lay on his knees, left hand on the ground, using all his strength to resist Nihilus' attack. Malak could feel Revan's brightness in the Force diminishing, and he realized his friend would soon be consumed by Nihilus' hunger. He could bear his own death, but he not could bear that of his brother. _Content! _Malak despised himself for thinking such thoughts only a moment ago.

He had to act. Closing his eyes Malak embraced the pain. He centered himself, his Force presence drifting towards Nihilus even more rapidly, though now it did so in a much calmer way, as Malak was no longer opposing it. Instead, he chose to open himself further to the Force. He let the Force flow into him like he had never done before.

_How much of the Force can you absorb, Nihilus? You cannot absorb all the Force! The Force is everything._

Malak centered himself, allowing the Force to flow into him faster than Nihilus could absorb it. Malak was strong in the Force, and he knew it. For a long time he had been much stronger then Revan, but in time Revan's raw force potential seemed to increase, to the point where now Revan was almost on par with Malak. But the older student was still the strongest in the Force and he knew it. That didn't necessarily mean much, but right now it meant enough; it meant he could open himself to the Force to such an extent that he became enveloped in a faint halo. And just as soon, the halo started extending towards Nihilus, whose hunger only seemed to increase as Malak opened himself further. "_Fool!" _Nihilus' voice boomed in his head. "_You cannot defeat me this way! It will only increase my appetite, and once I feed on your brightness, it will only make me stronger!"_

Malak was no fool. _I do not intend to defeat you by feeding you. I'm just curious if you can still feed with your head lying at your feet! _ Malak knew he wouldn't be able to sustain this much longer. Nihilus' hunger was increasing and now he was pressing his attack through the Force, and he suspected that soon it would increase to devour any amount of Force Malak could call to him. But for now the scales tipped into his favor, so the former Jedi rose to his feet.

Darth Revan felt the darkness which he was fighting with all his might ease its grip on him. It hurt too much to open his eyes, but he sensed his friend, facing Nihilus, glowing like a star through the Force. He understood immediately what was happening, and he suddenly felt the weaker. He could barely keep his eyes open and refrain from crying, let alone stand his ground. How could Malak do it? How could he channel so much power through him? He knew his friend was strong, and they had both grown even stronger since they had immersed themselves in the Dark Side – _much stronger than the corrupt Jedi council would have ever permitted us. _But still, it was incredible what Malak was capable of. It then dawned on Revan that Malak was not immersing himself in the Dark Side of the Force, but rather in the Force itself, in a way that was oblivious to any light or darkness. _And he probably has no idea how he is doing it. _If Revan could he would have smiled at the way such things came naturally to his friend. But he couldn't smile. Nihilus' grip tightened itself again on his Force presence, and he had to fight his eyes from closing from the pain. He tried to do the same as Malak, tried to channel all his powers, _all his newfound powers_, into himself, trying to outmatch Nihilus the same way Malak was doing.

Malak was now facing off Nihilus. His hand reached for his lightsaber as he started pacing the small distance that separated him from his fierce opponent. Nihilus in turn drew his own saber and both blades sparked to life in two dashes of deep crimson. They didn't spend time sizing each other – time was something Malak was short on, and he knew Revan was probably even shorter on it. They soon engaged in battle, and Malak realized in fear that Nihilus could match all his blows while still tugging forcefully at them. He motioned all his fear away with a shake of his head and committed himself fully to the one thing he truly excelled at.

Nihilus wasn't content with the way things were going either. He had fed on numerous Jedi and even a few Jedi Masters during the last year, mostly practicing his newfound powers. He had killed an entire tribe of Dathomiri Night-Sisters in one attack, and all his previous feedings put together had been shorter then this. Revan was slowly being eaten, and soon all that would remain would be a pile of flesh and armor, devoid of any echo of the Force. But for now he was still resisting it, putting everything he had into resisting Nihilus' attack, and apparently he had a lot in him. And Darth Malak, he was something the self-proclaimed Lord of Hunger could not fathom. Shining through the Force in a light that was neither of a Jedi nor of a Sith the young red-clad warrior was unleashing a devastating attack.

In the depth of the Trayus core the two figures were entangled in a dance of deadly crimson light. Through the Force the sight was even more astonishing as a figure of pure brightness faced off against a void that was feeding of the brightness constantly. It was a unique brightness, the serene blue light of the former Jedi Malak, entwined with the passionate crimson brilliance of the newly born Darth Malak. And to the side, watching in disbelief and trying to resist the attack that hadn't relented with the duel was the cringed form of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Malak and Nihilus were evenly matched, both in brute strength, speed and technique. Their styles were surprisingly similar, as their strong frames and powerful arms catered for an aggressive and blindingly fast form of combat, which still held more strength in its one-handed blows than most other duelists could put up with two hands. Blow after blow came down, and parry after parry came up, and neither of them seem to relent: Malak drawing more and more on the force to augment his speed and reflexes, and Nihilus feeding more and more on Malak's brightness, matching every blow, and attacking at every point. Nihilus flinched for the tiniest of moments and Malak's blade came crushing down, taking Nihilus' blade and driving it into its owner's shoulder. What had made Nihilus flinch was the sight of Revan raising himself on one knee and one foot. _He should've been an empty casing long ago! No matter, the more energy they summon, the more my hunger will be satisfied_.

Revan raised himself, drawing more and more on the Force. His master had once called him "The Heart of the Force", and he was determined to prove that his embrace of the dark side had only increased his brute potential. As he placed on foot on the ground, he saw Nihilus flinch and Malak drove both blades into his opponents shoulder. Hope gleamed on the horizon, hope that the pain would stop, but Nihilus dropped down, faster then even the gravitation of Malachor should have allowed, faster then Malak could push the locked blades even further into his shoulder. For a moment Malak still seemed to have a definite upper hand, towering over Nihilus who was almost kneeling in front of him, both crimson blades locked right above Nihilus' shoulder. Malak brought his second hand to the handle of this lightsaber, hoping to use his position to overpower his opponent. _Enough of this! _Nihilus tightened his grip on the Force presence of the two Jedi turned Sith. They had fed him more than all his previous victims together. It was time for the Lord of Hunger to use all that energy against them. _"Fool!" _he yelled from underneath Malak "_The Force flows through you, but it does not stays with you! From me however, it cannot escape unless I unleash it!"_

Nihilus' grip tightened, as Revan and Malak's turn to flinch came, Nihilus kept only hand on the hilt of his lightsaber, matching Malak's downward push, bringing his other hand in a lightning fast move and putting it dead center on Malak's chest. "What in the" Malak yelled, expecting Nihilus to draw even more on his presence. But instead of doing so, Nihilus unleashed the energy he had fed on from the two Jedi in a devastating bolt of Force Lightning that hit Malak from point blank range and sent him whirling through the air, the faint-blue halo that had encased him dissolving itself before his red armor-clad body hit the ground. The energy released would have been enough to take out a capital ship, but Malak's state of immersion in the Force had saved his life, but just barely. As he hit the ground with a thud, Nihilus had already plunged himself in the air with the agility of an Echani in a Force assisted jump that brought him directly upon Malak. Malak's reaction time was next to zero, as he didn't even waste time to moan his broken ribs, doing a back flip from the ground and from underneath Nihilus' blade, bringing him again face to face with his opponent. But he was no longer glowing with the Force, while Nihilus was as dark and abyssal as ever. The fight was over. The Lord of Hunger attacked with a direct and aggressive horizontal slash that Malak tried to parry only to have his lightsaber removed from his hands by the sheer force of the attack.

Malak's pain echoed in Revan's head through the bond the two friends share, and fear for the one that was like a brother for him and anger towards the one that wanted to hurt his brother gave him a last burst of strength. As Nihilus advanced and brought his blade around for the finishing strike, Revan raised his hand and pulled! Malak lived. As Malak was being pulled back by the weakened Revan, the lightning-fast blade missed his neck; however it severed Malak's jaw, leaving him lying on the ground unconscious. Nihilus gloated to himself, satisfied that Malak was not dead - this way he could torture him and feed on him whenever he would wish. The fact that the lightsaber had instantly cauterized the wound meant he would not die of bleeding. But now it was time to deal with the other one, the weakling that was supposed to be the Master, the one that had dared to claim the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.

Revan screamed in pain as Malak's jaw vaporized against the tip of Nihilus' saber and that pain flooded him through their bond. The burst of energy granted by his anger was short lived and useless. Nihilus' attention was now fully on him, as the Lord of Hunger advanced on the Dark Lord of the Sith, feeding off him, turning him into nothingness. Revan cringed and fell into a heap on the floor, Nihilus' dark shape towering above him, barely discernable through the pain that encased him and was ripping the Force from him.

_In vain…all in vain…_


	3. Revan

Malak! Malak! Malak!

His friend was lying there, unconscious, half of his face missing. Nihilus was towering over them, and Revan felt as if the abyss was already above him.

_In vain, everything had been in vain._

Malak was dying, all their newfound powers as Lords of the Sith could not save him. Their fleet was still en route to Foerost, where his eager Sith officers would surely declare war on the Republic. They would lose, for none of the Dark Jedi in their fleet could even begin to hope to control the Star Forge, but they would inflict a lot of damage to the republic. In the end the Galaxy would be weaker then ever and not in the least prepared; all those that died in the Mandalorian Wars would have died in vain, and he would have sacrificed himself to the dark side for nothing. Revan startled himself when he realized that amongst those that he felt he was leaving unprepared, a pair of blue eyes came up. He would never forget those eyes whose deep blue color had inspired him to make his first lightsaber upon becoming a Jedi Knight. But the thing that hurt the most was that he could not save Malak.

Malak. Kreia. Bastila.

In a fraction of a second Revan had a premonition: a voice that he knew was Malak, even though it sounded nothing like Malak spoke in a metallic accent

_Savior, conqueror, hero, villain. You are all things, Revan... and yet you are nothing. In the end, you belong to neither the light nor the darkness. You will forever stand alone._

"Enough!" Revan's words boomed through the entire cavern that was the Trayus Core. He slowly raised himself to his feet, shaking off the weariness that had come with Nihilus' attack. He centered himself, washing away all his fears and doubts and remorse. He immersed himself within the Force so fast and so fully that Nihilus could barely comprehend what was happening. Revan had been almost a lifeless heap of crimson and black and now, within a few seconds, he was glowing like a Nova, glowing so bright that even his entire body was washed in light.

"I am Darth Revan! Jedi Knight and Dark Lord of the Sith! I am he who is called the Heart of the Force and Malak is my brother….. And you…you will pay!"

The though of his friend, his master and a young blue-eyed padawan all suffering because he had failed in a goal he himself had imposed, had given him strength. He was the only one who could defend them and just like during the Mandalorian Wars something had to be done and he was the only one who could do it.

Revan's form was almost no longer distinguishable within the bright glow. He paced the distance between himself and Nihilus very slowly and soon arrived face to face with the dark figure. Nihilus brought his lightsaber down on Revan, but Revan raised his hand and used his palm to block the crimson blade in mid-air, deactivating upon contact. He raised his hand again and touched Nihilus' forehead with the tips of two fingers. Nihilus had no eyes, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. His two eye sockets seemed nothing more than two pools of darkness. But Revan starred into them anyway, starring down the darkness that was every fiber of Nihilus' being. He was having a stare-down with the abyss itself, and he was winning. .

_You want a feel of the Force?_

Revan sent the Force towards Nihilus in waves, towards what seemed to be only bottomless abyss. The Force washed over Nihilus, over saturating what had seemed insatiable. The Force in its entire majesty washed over Nihilus just as a wave washes over a small hole in the sand, filling it up and making it one with the rest of the sand.

Nihilus' body jerked and flew to the ground a couple of meters in front of Revan. The Dark Lord of the Sith walked over to his opponent, who was now trying to raise himself to a kneeling position. Revan raised his opponent by the neck with an invisible hand and sent surges of energy into him, making his body jerk with each and every one of them. Eventually he put him down o his knees in front of him, again placing two fingers on his forehead.

"I will spare your life - if what you are can be called life.

From now on, you will serve me! You shall henceforth be known as Darth Nihilus, Lord of Hunger!

Now Rest!"

And with that Revan sent Nihilus flying again into one of the pillars around the platform and directed his attention to keeping Malak alive, all the while his thoughts racing throughout an entire Galaxy and beyond it.

Malak lived that day, even though his jaw had to be replaced with a metal prostate containing a vocabulator. He would be loyal to Revan, loyal to his brother even when, tears in his eyes, he gave the order to the Leviathan to fire on Revan's flagship.

And Revan, Revan remained, and perhaps even more so that day became Revan.

Savior, conqueror, hero, villain.


End file.
